Boarding-House Episode
Apples race into appetites:The unswerving mechanism of the tableHurries through the last dish of supper.Then an undulating interludeFrom people who have spent one pleasure,Distractedly juggling its aftermathAnd peering at new desires.One woman gazes at anotherWhile twitching murder shimmers in her eyesAnd skims across her face.Violets in a madman’s scene,Suspended in the air,Are the eyes of her neighbour.And in between them sits the nervous manWith face like pouting gargoyle,Whose brown eyes shout the things he cannot say:Explosive evasions;Fears too tired to shriek;Renunciations groaning from their dungeons.He eyes each woman, like a manSolemnly trying to walk on mysterious ice.Crisp inanities ripple back and forthAmong these three, like ghostly parrotsVisiting each other’s cages.She with crazy, violet eyes,Plays with her fork, as though its clinkRhymed with secret, chained thoughts;She with murder in her eyes,And curtly voluminous body,Evenly plays her child-rôle.Cringing on the rim of middle age,With broken shields piled at her feet,She has made this man a haunted palaceAnd she stands before the doorShe dare not open, with a daggerFor the woman standing at her side.
They sit, afterwards, upon the veranda,Meekly greeting the velvet swagger of evening:Woman with twisted, violet eyes,Woman with hidden murder on her lips,And man like a pouting gargoyle.Then, like tired children,Their words grow cool and lazy.They draw closer to each otherAnd, with a trembling curiosity,Look at each other’s hands.
Words in this poem 16
- hurries n.
- A staith or framework from which coal is discharged from cars into vessels.
- distractedly adv.
- Disjointedly; madly.
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- pouting n.
- Childish sullenness.
- gargoyle n.
- A spout projecting from the roof gutter of a building, often carved grotesquely. [Written also gargle, gargyle, and gurgoyle.] [OE. garguilie, gargouille, cf. Sp. gárgola, prob. fr. the same source as F. gorge throat, influenced by L. gargarizare to gargle. See Gorge and cf. Gargle, Garg]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- clink v. t.
- To cause to give out a slight, sharp, tinkling, sound, as by striking metallic or other sonorous bodies together. [OE. clinken; akin to G. klingen, D. klinken, SW. klinga, Dan. klinge; prob. of imitative origin. Cf. Clank, Clench, Click, v. i.]
- curtly adv.
- In a curt manner.
- voluminous a.
- Of or pertaining to volume or volumes. Specifically: -- (a) Consisting of many folds, coils, or convolutions. [L. voluminosus: cf. F. volumineux.]
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- veranda n.
- An open, roofed gallery or portico, adjoining a dwelling house, forming an out-of-door sitting room. See Loggia. [A word brought by the English from India; of uncertain origin; cf. Skr. vara, Pg. varanda, Sp. baranda, Malay baranda.]
- meekly adv.
- In a meek manner.
- swagger v. i.
- To walk with a swaying motion; hence, to walk and act in a pompous, consequential manner. [Freq. of swag.]
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- curiosity n.
- The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration. [OE. curiouste, curiosite, OF. curioseté, curiosité, F. curiosit, fr. L. curiositas, fr. curiosus. See Currious, and cf. Curio.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Boarding-House Episode is in the public domain. This text is taken from Advice: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #60252; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Maxwell Bodenheim, Boarding-House Episode, in Advice: A Book of Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60252, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bodenheim-advice/boarding-house-episode.html, id L23399.
Form and metre
Boarding-House Episode is 46 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ------A-A-------------BCC-BC-------- appetites · table · supper · interlude · pleasure · aftermath · desiresA · another · eyesA · face · scene · air · neighbour · man · gargoyle · say · evasions · shriek · dungeons · man · ice · forth · parrotsB · cagesC · eyesC · clink · thoughtsB · eyesC · body · rôle · age · feet · palace · door · dagger · side
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Apples race into appetites: | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| The unswerving mechanism of the table | 12 | ·˘/˘/˘·˘··/˘ |
| Hurries through the last dish of supper. | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Then an undulating interlude | 9 | ··/˘·˘/˘· |
| From people who have spent one pleasure, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Distractedly juggling its aftermath | 10 | ˘/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| And peering at new desires. | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| One woman gazes at another | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| While twitching murder shimmers in her eyes | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And skims across her face. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Violets in a madman’s scene, | 8 | /˘˘··/·· |
| Suspended in the air, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Are the eyes of her neighbour. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And in between them sits the nervous man | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With face like pouting gargoyle, | 7 | ···/˘/· |
| Whose brown eyes shout the things he cannot say: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Explosive evasions; | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Fears too tired to shriek; | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Renunciations groaning from their dungeons. | 11 | ˘·˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| He eyes each woman, like a man | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Solemnly trying to walk on mysterious ice. | 11 | /˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Crisp inanities ripple back and forth | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Among these three, like ghostly parrots | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Visiting each other’s cages. | 8 | /˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| She with crazy, violet eyes, | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| Plays with her fork, as though its clink | 8 | ········ |
| Rhymed with secret, chained thoughts; | 8 | ·˘·/˘·˘· |
| She with murder in her eyes, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And curtly voluminous body, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Evenly plays her child-rôle. | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Cringing on the rim of middle age, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| With broken shields piled at her feet, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| She has made this man a haunted palace | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| And she stands before the door | 7 | ······· |
| She dare not open, with a dagger | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| For the woman standing at her side. | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| They sit, afterwards, upon the veranda, | 10 | ··/˘···˘/˘ |
| Meekly greeting the velvet swagger of evening: | 12 | /˘/˘·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Woman with twisted, violet eyes, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Woman with hidden murder on her lips, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| And man like a pouting gargoyle. | 8 | ····/˘/· |
| Then, like tired children, | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| Their words grow cool and lazy. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| They draw closer to each other | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And, with a trembling curiosity, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Look at each other’s hands. | 6 | ···/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.